criterionforum.org

Written by Sydney Boehm (The Big Heat) and directed by Hugo Fregonese (Man in the Attic), Black Tuesday is an explosive crime drama starring one of Hollywood’s most beloved tough guys: Edward G. Robinson, the star of Little Caesar, The Last Gangster, I Am the Law and Key Largo.

Vincent Canelli (Robinson) is a violent mobster serving time on Death Row – but he has no intention of going to the electric chair. Following a plan put together by his moll, Hatti (Jean Parker, Dead Man’s Eyes), Canelli orchestrates a jailbreak on the night before his execution and takes several hostages in the process. Canelli is joined by fellow Death Row inmate Peter Manning (Peter Graves, Stalag 17), and hopes to discover the location of a stash of stolen loot Manning hid away before his conviction. But is Manning willing to pay the price for freedom and look the other way as the psychopathic Canelli revels in murder and mayhem?

While the Hollywood gangster movie was at the height of its success in the early 1930s, it resurged in the 1940s and into the next decade as crime pictures found a new popularity in the post-war period. Standing tall alongside Key Largo, White Heat and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Black Tuesday is one of the finest gangster films to emerge from this later cycle – as old-fashioned wiseguys met with film noir sensibilities. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present this key crime picture of the 1950s on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from an astonishing new restoration.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Limited Edition (2000 copies)
Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow
1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K scan of the 35mm fine grains
Optional English subtitles
A brand new audio commentary with film noir expert Sergio Angelini, host of the Tipping My Fedora podcast
From Argentina to Hollywood – a brand new interview with film historian Sheldon Hall on director Hugo Fregonese
No Escape – A brand new video essay by Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City
Theatrical trailer
A collector’s booklet featuring new writing on Black Tuesday by critic Barry Forshaw and film writer Craig Ian Mann

Nice. Still haven’t seen this but the other two titles in the Kino box with this aren’t worth going out of the way for, so this will be an easy choice for those who want this one

interesting that this is #300, but definitely curious to see this movie anyway

Any time Eureka (I can’t call them ‘MoC’ in good conscience anymore) actually remember that they weren’t always just a clearinghouse for endless interchangeable kung-fu flicks, it is a moment to be celebrated, so I’ll be happy to pre-order this one (though not direct from them, of course, given what they charge).

Doesn't the MoC label remain largely uncontaminated by kung fu?

I know Maggie Cheung played Irma Vep, but still.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2024 2:10 pm Edward G. Robinson, the star of Little Caesar, The Last Gangster, I Am the Law and Key Largo.

This is a bizarre, comparatively little-known film to list for Robinson— I wonder if it’s in the hopper for future release? I saw it earlier this year and I’ve already forgotten everything about it, so if so, let’s hope it’s as part of a bigger set

They just wanted to have four movies that had words beginning with the letter L in the title.

I thoroughly enjoyed this when I saw it in Bologna a couple of years ago.

Come to think of it, Sheldon Hall almost certainly saw it there as well, possibly even in the same screening.

(It was one of the bigger word-of-mouth hits that year.)

It’s also touring this year in the states theatrically as part of the annual Noir City fest

Solid movie. At its best, it is brutal and blunt without excessive character annotation; at its worst, it tries too hard to deliver philosophy through representative mouths in the weird little chamber drama it becomes, although the nihilistic plot almost belies any professed justification for righteous killing and the death penalty, which in the end, is remarkably out of step with what a modern viewer might anticipate from a '50s film. Great, high-contrast photography by Stanley Cortez, who, along with Peter Graves, would soon be on the set of Night of the Hunter. And Robinson is as delightfully nasty as he's ever been; if you are a fan of his work, this is a must-see.

Great writeup, agree across the board. I’m not over the moon about it, but it’s solid for all the reasons you state. Plus it’s always a great to watch Robinson go wild

Finished going through the extras. A fairly solid assembly of extras for such an "obscure" film like this. I liked that there wasn't too much overlap of information between the four participants. The Sergio Angelini commentary was pretty decent (this is my first time listening to a commentary/extra by him) although I do wish Eureka, or whoever was editing the commentary, could have at least put the film audio over when there were moments of sudden silence (I guess some "no-nos" from MGM's legal department).

I haven't had any direct dealings with MGM's legal department, but I understand they're at least as tough as Sony's.

(That said, the gaps in Indicator's Confessions of a Pop Performer were "live" - it was clearly Robin Askwith's least favourite of the four Confessions films, and he didn't have anything like as much to say about it. Although I did fade up the film soundtrack at those points.)